


A Gentleman's Dilemma

by elliemoran



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Assassination, Debt, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi Are Related, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:15:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliemoran/pseuds/elliemoran
Summary: Eren has plenty of problems, and they're all basically how much debt he and his family is in. He has a solution, though, and it involves the totally unromantic and practical proposal he's planning on making in the morning to an exceptionally rich lady.That's for tomorrow, though. Tonight, he's going to get very drunk. And if somehow, on his way home, he runs into his old sort-of-crush fighting for his life in a dark alleyway, just maybe he'll get involved.But he's still going to propose in the morning. For sure.
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 16
Kudos: 216
Collections: 18+ Ereri Discord Server Summer Exchange 2020





	A Gentleman's Dilemma

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Heichous_Poncho](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heichous_Poncho/gifts).



> This is my gift for Heichous_Poncho for the Ereri discord summer gift exchange - I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Thanks to the team running the exchange, you guys made this super awesome to be a part of! And thank you to Fin for your help beta-ing - all errors are me tweaking it all around later :)

**A Gentleman Heads Home**

Eren was very, very drunk.

He figured it was mostly Kirschstein’s fault. Sure, he had already planned on getting plastered when he’d left home that evening, but if Kirschstein hadn’t egged him on, hadn’t bragged,  _ loudly _ , to anyone that would listen all about how he’d managed to drink Eren under the table the first time they’d snuck alcohol into the room they’d shared at school, Eren would have cut himself off just as soon as he’d managed to fog his mind past the point of being able to think.

Instead, he’d reached – and passed – the nice, blurry haze he’d been aiming for hours ago, and, since he had to admit that Kirschstein was a pretty good drinker, Eren was now having a little trouble finding the sidewalk with his feet as he walked home from the gentleman’s club they were both members of.

He’d beat Kirschtein though, which was, after all, the most important thing.

And if his head was maybe a little too foggy just now to properly enjoy the victory, that was okay. He’d made sure to stare extra hard as the club’s attendants had poured his sort-of friend into a hackney cab and sent him home, so he was almost sure he’d be able to remember the moment once he was sober again.

When his toe caught the edge of one of the cobblestones beneath his feet he staggered forward, and then, overcompensating to keep from landing face-first on the ground, sent himself careening sideways until his shoulder hit one of the buildings lining the street. Since the wall beside him felt surprisingly stable, he kept one hand braced on it as he started walking again.

The only advantage to being this drunk, apart from, naturally, the pleasure of having won, was that he truly could not bring to mind why he’d been so miserable earlier that evening. True, he was having a hard time bringing much of  _ anything _ to mind, but he wasn’t finding himself all that worried about that right at the moment.

There was a tiny little thread of sober thought running through his head that seemed to be trying to tell him that late at night on a dark, deserted street was not the best time and place to be when he couldn’t see straight, and, while the rest of his mind was having a hard time understanding why, Eren had listened to the little voice just enough to pull out the pocket knife he always carried on him.

It was one of the few things of any value his father had given him that he hadn’t sold, yet, and while it wasn’t long enough to do much serious damage, he made sure to keep it sharp. 

He figured that was good enough, so firmly shoved away any other sober thoughts that tried to make themselves heard.

After all, hadn’t he just downed several bottles of his sort-of friend’s liquor just so he could stop thinking? Tomorrow was soon enough to find things to worry about. Today was for blessed oblivion.

Besides, with the way his head was already feeling he was pretty sure he was going to have the mother of all hangovers in the morning. Everything terrible could wait for the morning.

_ The morning. It was all happening in the morning. _

Well,  _ hell _ . Eren let out a gusty sigh as he came to a swaying halt. There went his nice fog. Now he was both very drunk  _ and _ remembering what he’d gotten drunk to try and forget.

In the morning, he was going to propose to his future wife. Or, rather, at 8 AM precisely he would be meeting with her father, the General, in his study, where he would ask permission to pay his addresses. Then, at 8:30 AM –  _ precisely _ – he would be escorted into the parlor to meet with his future fiancée. He would then request her hand in marriage. She’d already informed him that he might kiss her gloved hand once she agreed to be his wife, if he felt it absolutely warranted, but no further displays of enthusiasm would be necessary.

She’d also informed him that he should plan for everything to be done and settled by 9 AM, so they would all be able to get on with their respective days without too much interruption.

Eren stood where he was, unsteadily, scowling at the distant street corner up ahead where a streetlight lit a glowing circle on the cobblestone bricks beneath. If he had a little more coordination, he might have tried to find something to kick.

He liked her. He really did. She was a calm, intelligent, and very practical woman. He just wished he could convince himself that he wasn’t setting them both up for miserable lives.

Her family tree was honorable, respectable, and absolutely  _ littered _ with scholars and scientists and politicians and military heroes – all highly respected people who’d accomplished great things. Most importantly, for Eren’s family’s needs, they were also both exceedingly wealthy,  _ and _ lacking a noble title.

Since Eren had both a title and crushing debts, they were a perfect match.

A loud crash somewhere up ahead broke into his dim thoughts, making him jump. Blinking, he tried to see into the shadowy dark on the other side of the street but saw nothing but a narrow alleyway between two tall buildings. As he stood listening, he realized he’d been hearing more noises for a while – feet scuffling over stone, heavy breathing, and the meaty thunk of fists hitting flesh that he recognized all too well from the many fights he’d gotten himself into over the years.

Maybe, if he hadn’t been so drunk, he might not have immediately and without thought rushed across the street towards the alleyway, with only the short silver knife in his hand for protection. Later, after everything settled, he’d often wonder about that. 

But he’d nearly always come to the same conclusion. Yes, he’d probably have done exactly the same thing stone-cold sober.

After all, he’d always been up for a fight.

* * *

**A Gentleman Spends Time in an Alleyway**

Levi balanced his weight on the balls of his feet, eyes on the man in front of him. His left arm hung awkwardly at his side, and he’d lost enough blood that he could feel his head starting to spin. Inwardly, he cursed himself for not noticing the third man hidden in the alleyway. Levi had taken out the first two but had been taken by surprise when the last had come at him from behind. 

The man had buried his blade in Levi’s shoulder before Levi could do more than half turn to avoid it – though since the knife had been aimed at his heart he supposed he should be grateful for having managed that much, at least.

He just wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to fight.

If he had his own knife he could end this quickly, but that was buried in the first attacker’s neck, and he doubted the man circling in front of him would give him enough time to retrieve it. He had a second knife, of course, a long, thin stiletto he kept strapped to the small of his back, where he could easily reach it with his left hand.

Which meant that at this moment it was just as useless as his left arm.

And then there was the knife still in his shoulder. Levi had already lost enough blood that he hadn’t wanted to risk taking it out, but he was running out of other options.

The man in front of him spread his arms wide, grinning with bared teeth as blood trailed down his chin from the split lip one of Levi’s kicks had given him. He was easily half again his height, and wide enough to fill the alleyway if he stretched out. His arms were almost as long as Levi’s legs, which meant Levi had to keep constantly moving to avoid being plowed into by his big fists.

Levi had faith in his own speed, but in his current condition, and in such a narrow space, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to dodge if the man came at him with all his weight. 

There was no other choice left. He’d have to risk pulling out the knife. To give himself room, Levi aimed another kick at the man’s midsection, dancing back as he heard him let out a satisfying whoosh of air.

He steadied himself, watching the man’s eyes carefully as he eased his good hand up towards his shoulder, calculating, bracing himself to move as soon as he saw the man prepare to charge.

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

Levi didn’t bother glancing over towards the mouth of the alleyway when he heard the slightly slurred voice but was very happy when the man in front of him did.

In an instant, Levi was on him. He jabbed one fist into the man’s chin, knocking his head back, and then pushed off the ground to aim a vicious kick at the center of his chest.

Gasping for breath, the man tried to hold his ground, but Levi kept after him, using his legs to keep him off balance enough so the punches he aimed at Levi went wild.

The man almost went down, but his windmilling arms caught the walls on either side of him, and he propelled himself back up to his feet. With a curse, he threw one last punch in Levi’s direction and turned to escape.

Levi hadn’t forgotten the drunk who’d interrupted but figured he must have already run away. Maybe the big man thought so too.

The drunk hadn’t run away, though. Instead of leaving, he had walked farther into the alleyway, coming close enough to the two men fighting that the big man didn’t even have time to slow down before he plowed straight into him.

The drunk was knocked back with enough force that he landed flat on his ass at the edge of the street. The big man kept going, but as Levi chased after him he could already tell something was wrong.

By the time the man got to the sidewalk at the end of the alley, he was staggering more than walking, and as Levi came up behind him he sagged bonelessly down to the ground. 

Breathing deeply, Levi looked down into the man’s wide open, shocked eyes, and saw the way the distant streetlight glinted off the short silver knife sticking out of his chest.

“You could have warned me first if you wanted to fight.” A few yards away, the drunk was getting unsteadily to his feet. “I’d have taken off my coat.” He lifted an arm to peer blearily at the seam. “I’ll be really pissed if you made me rip it.”

He looked up, and when Levi saw his face for the first time since he’d appeared in the alleyway, he had to suck in a breath.

It was a very familiar face, though it had been years since he’d seen it last. Eren’s features had lost the roundness of youth, turning him from the wild teenager Levi still saw in his head to what was likely an even wilder adult, but Levi could never have mistaken him for anyone else.

Eren as a teenager had been loud, reckless, confident. He’d been impossible not to notice, and despite his often hostile attitude to others, he’d attracted people to him like moths to a flame. Levi had been no exception.

At first, Levi had just attributed his fascination to Eren’s stupidly pretty face. After all, he’d always enjoyed sketching, both for its own sake and because it gave him an excuse not to have to talk to any of the other students for hours at a time, and Eren’s face had quickly become his favorite thing to draw.

But somehow, somewhere along the way, Levi had come to realize he enjoyed the time he spent with Eren, simply  _ because _ of Eren. And that had thrown him so thoroughly that it wasn’t until his last year at school that he’d realized what he’d come to feel for Eren was far, far more than simple friendship.

He’d been reeling from that realization when his family had pulled him back home, and after that, there had been no point in thinking about Eren anymore.

In the years since Levi had deliberately avoided any news of Eren’s life, but in his head, he’d pictured him just as carefree and satisfied with his world as he’d been as a teenager. He’d probably be cozily married by now. 

Living a comfortable life that Levi had no right to intrude on, even now that he was free to.

Eren reappearing in front of him so suddenly knocked Levi’s world sideways. He wasn’t just the Eren in Levi’s head anymore, but he wasn’t a stranger, either. He was a stranger, but he was also Eren.

He was as ridiculously attractive as he’d always been, though his cheekbones now were a little too prominent, his frame, beneath his coat, a little too lean.

He was also very pale at the moment, which could have been because of any number of reasons, some of which related to how hard he’d hit the ground.

“Are you alright?”

Eren blinked owlishly as he stared back at Levi. “Sure. Just fine. As long as my coat isn’t ripped. It‘s my only good one, and I have to wear it in the morning.”

He staggered forward a couple of steps, eyes going to the man lying still on the ground as he continued, almost absently. “Can’t propose properly with no coat, after all.”

Eren’s words made something jolt deep in Levi’s chest. Despite the timing, the dead body on the ground and the other two still in the alleyway behind him, the knife still in his shoulder, and the fact that it had been close to a decade since they’d last met and Eren didn’t seem to have even realized who he was, Levi couldn’t keep himself from asking, “Propose?” 

“Uh-huh. Have to be there at eight sharp. The General doesn’t like people to be late. Hey, uh, why isn’t he getting up?”

Distracted, Levi glanced down at the man at his feet. “Because he’s dead.”

“Well, hell. Did you kill him?”

“No, I think that’s your knife sticking out of his heart.”

“It is?” Eren lifted one of his hands, still fisted as if holding something. When he stretched out his fingers, he stared down at the blood coating them. “Oh, well that’s a problem.” 

Levi saw his knees start to buckle, and darted forward to catch him around his waist. Though he used his right arm, the sudden motion jerked at his left shoulder and made his vision go grey for several buzzing seconds.

When his vision cleared, he saw Eren blinking down into his eyes. “Do I know you?” Squinting, he reached out to pull down the thin scarf Levi wore tucked around the lower half of his face. 

Levi pulled away, removing his arm from Eren’s waist and taking a step back. “No. You don’t know me.”

“No, I definitely know you.” Eren reached out again, and Levi took another step back. “Levi. It is Levi, isn’t it? What are you doing here?” His eyes dropped down to the way Levi’s left arm hung at his side. “Hey, are you hurt? Did that guy hurt you?”

Levi bit back a curse. “Don’t worry about it, Eren. Go home.”

“Oh, I can’t do that. But you should go.” He reached out to pat Levi’s shoulder, missed, and ended up lightly slapping the side of his chin instead. “I’ll wait for the police, and explain all about how this guy ran into my knife.”

Levi studied the completely serious expression on Eren’s face. “You’re very drunk, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Eren said firmly, and smiled. “I have to propose in the morning, you see.”

“You said.”

“Uh-huh. So I got drunk. But clearly not too drunk to kill a man.” He let out a loud breath. “You really should go before anyone comes, wouldn’t want you to get mixed up in all this.”

Levi glanced towards the end of the street when he heard voices and feet coming their way. “For fuck’s sake, Eren, you need to sober up, fast.”

“ _ There’s _ that dirty mouth of yours.” Eren wobbled in place as he beamed at Levi. “I sure missed it. It’s been forever, hasn’t it? Hey, why’d you go away all suddenly like that?”

“ _ Eren _ . This is not the time.” Levi tensed, his gaze fastened on the men now rushing in their direction from the end of the street, desperately trying to see if he recognized their faces.

Eren nodded carefully, his eyes starting to go out of focus. “Nope. Not the time.”

And with that, he slid gracefully down to lie on the street, out cold.

* * *

**A Gentleman Spends Time in a Bed**

It was the heavy weight on his chest that woke Eren. For a moment, when he first opened his eyes, he was too confused by the draped canopy above his head to pay any attention to whatever was making it so hard to breathe.

The dark canopy looked so much like the one that had hung over his bed throughout his entire childhood that in his half-awake state he almost wondered if he’d somehow dreamt the years since.

Maybe if he got up now, went downstairs, he’d find his parents sitting at the breakfast table. His mother’s face would be young, unmarked by loss and worry as she lightly teased his father, prodding at him to spend more time at home with his family. His father would be as reserved and uncommunicative as ever, of course, but when he thought she wasn’t looking he’d watch his wife with a gentleness that Eren had always found vaguely embarrassing to watch. Armin would be there too, nose buried in a book, and the table would be loaded with far more food than the four of them together could eat.

Instead of an empty shell, the house would be full. Soft carpets would cover the floors, rich fabrics would soften the furniture, and old family paintings would hang on the walls. His father’s bookshelves would be full, and the bits and pieces his mother had loved would be scattered throughout the house.

It had all seemed so simple to Eren, back then. Life would continue as it always had, only better. He’d grow up, follow in his father’s footsteps. He’d help Armin change the world with all the inventions he dreamt up, and someday his father would hand over the work that kept him away from home so often, and his mother would finally get her wish. 

But as he stared up at the canopy, he realized this one was a dark, velvet green, trimmed in gold. It was far more extravagant than anything he’d had as a boy. 

He squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again, and decided it wasn’t all just his imagination.

“Hey, Mister. Stop ignoring me.”

Eren looked down and saw that the dull weight pressing down on his chest was a child. A girl, maybe seven or eight years old, sitting cross-legged on top of the thick layers of blanket that covered him.

He had to blink again, just to be sure he hadn’t imagined her, either.

But she was still there when he opened his eyes.

Her straight black hair was pulled ruthlessly back from her face, the style especially harsh against the tiers of pink ribbons and white ruffles that covered almost every inch of the dress she wore.

She held a dagger in her hands. It was sheathed, in soft, pale leather, but from the way she handled it, Eren had no doubt she’d been trained to use it.

There was something about the look in her eyes that struck some familiar chord in Eren’s memory, but he didn’t think he’d ever met her before. She was memorable.

“Who are you?” he asked. 

Instead of answering, she frowned down at him. “Why are you in my father’s bed?”

Eren’s eyes widened. He lifted his head, trying to get a good look at the room around him, but found the blankets were tucked in so tightly he could barely move, even discounting her weight.

He started a little when he saw the two women watching him with cool eyes as they stood guard by the door. The starched and aproned outfits both wore couldn’t hide their well-muscled builds, and he wondered who this girl was that she needed two obvious bodyguards for nursemaids.

As he met their eyes, one of them reached towards her hip, running a finger along what he was fairly sure was the hilt of some kind of weapon badly hidden by the ruffle of her apron.

Very deliberately, Eren stopped moving.

Still sitting on his chest, the girl leaned forward until he turned to look at her again. She poked at his cheek with the sheathed end of her dagger. “Are you an assassin? Did someone send you after Papa? Are you the one who stabbed him last night?”

“I don’t even know who your father is.” Eren tried to edge away from the knife. “Besides, I’d be a pretty bad assassin if I fell asleep in my mark’s bed.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Not if you’re trying to seduce him first.”

“I…to..what?” Eren’s words choked off when the door to the room opened, and Levi walked in. 

“Mikasa, what are you doing?”

“Papa, is this one of the men that injured you last night?”

“No. I handled them. This one just got caught up in the mess.”

Her brows drew together, and she studied her father as he came to stand beside the bed. “You don’t usually bring bystanders home.”

Levi sat on the side of the bed and reached out to help Mikasa as she stood and walked across the blankets to stand leaning against her father. Both sets of unreadable eyes studied Eren, and now Eren knew why the girl’s eyes had seemed so familiar.

“So, uh, this is your daughter?”  _ And this is your bed?  _ Eren decided not to ask the second question out loud, though. 

“Yes. This is Mikasa. Mikasa, this is- this is Eren Jaeger. I went to school with him.”

“How do you do?” She nodded politely, her voice ridiculously well-mannered as if she hadn’t just been threatening him with the knife she still held in one hand.

Looking up at the two, Eren decided he was at too much of a disadvantage staying where he was. He had to shove hard to loosen the hold the blankets had on him, but once he was mostly free he pushed himself up on one elbow. 

He was just about to speak when he noticed how bright the light streaming in through the window was.

He bolted all the way upright on the bed, and then, when his head throbbed sickeningly, wilted back against the pillows. “What time is it?” 

“You shouldn’t move too fast. You probably have a killer hangover with how drunk you were last night, and how you hit your head when you went down.”

“Yeah. I definitely do.” More careful this time, Eren sat up. His head still ached, but the throb was more bearable this time. “It’s not eight yet, is it?”

“It’s past nine.”

“Well, hel-” Eren cut off his words, shooting a quick glance at the young girl’s wide, innocently curious eyes. “Well, anyway. There goes this morning’s plan.”

Levi watched him, his expression remarkably similar to his daughter’s. “That’s right. You mentioned that you planned to propose this morning.”

“Sort of. First, I had to ask her father for permission, then propose after. But they were expecting me at eight, and she already told me he won’t see people if they’re even a minute late.”

“I see.”

Eren sighed, slumping back against pillows. “There’s no point in going now. She’ll have already gotten on with her day.” 

Mikasa’s eyes widened. “Won’t her feelings be hurt if you don’t show up?” 

“She’s very sensible. She’ll be annoyed, but no, her feelings won’t be at all bruised.”

Mikasa angled her head. “If I liked someone enough to marry them, I’d still be hurt, no matter how sensible I was.”

Eren glanced at her, and his smile was a little rueful. “My mom keeps saying that, too. I bet she’d like you.”

A faint flush rose on Mikasa’s cheeks, but she lifted her chin into the air. “It’s only logical. Your mother must be logical too.”

“Uh-huh. But in any case, this is a different kind of relationship. We’re all being very practical about the whole thing, so she’ll be more upset by the inconvenience to her, and her father. They’ll go out this evening; I’ll meet them then. As long as I grov- I mean, as long as I apologize properly she’ll be fine with no hurt feelings. I’ll be engaged by this time tomorrow.”

Mikasa frowned at him. “Really? Is that enough?”

“Mikasa, you’re supposed to be in the middle of lessons right now, aren’t you? You should get back to them.” Levi interrupted.

“Yes, Papa. But I heard your valet talking about the man sleeping in your bed, so I had to make sure he wasn’t a threat.” She reached out, lightly touched her father’s left shoulder. “Is your arm better?”

“I’m fine.” Though when he lifted his arm to show her, Eren saw he was still favoring it a little.

He had a flash of memory. Blood, and a shining silver blade sticking out of a chest. And as more memory from the night before poured into his head, Eren sucked in a sharp breath.

“I have to go to the police. I killed that man last night.” As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes slid across to Mikasa, and he winced. “Sorry.”

“Oh, I know all about Papa’s work.”

“His…what?”

“Don’t worry. You didn’t kill anyone.” Levi patted Mikasa’s back, and then helped her hop off the bed. “He really did run straight into your knife. That’s all sorted out now, so the police won’t be looking for you.”

As Eren stared up at Levi, he suddenly remembered the scarf that had been wrapped around his neck the night before, and how it had half hidden his face.

He felt the first prickle of alarm. He’d forgotten. They’d been close when they’d been younger – so close that Eren had had what he’d later decided was simply a very strong schoolboy’s crush on him – but they’d moved in very different circles for too many years now for Eren to just regard him as an old friend.

He’d heard plenty of rumors since Levi was often mentioned in the society papers his mother would read whenever she got the chance. He was, after all, a wealthy, widowed earl. But that gossip was all of the type likely to interest the parents of eligible daughters, nothing that told him whether the man whose bed he was currently lying in was likely to want to silence him before he could tell anyone what he’d seen the night before.

Not that he remembered seeing anything all that dangerous, but the more his memory cleared up, the more he realized there were some obvious issues he hadn’t paid any attention to at the time.

Levi had always come across as a little dangerous, even when he’d just been Eren’s slightly grumpy upperclassman who seemed to like to draw him whenever he got the chance. 

Eren had forgotten. He hadn’t been scared of Levi, after all, even if half the school had whispered about how the few boys he’d gotten into real fights with had ended up too scared to come back when they were well enough to get out of bed again. But now, as he stared up at the man Levi had become he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was probably a lot more dangerous now. 

Watching Eren’s face, Levi’s lips curled. He nodded at the bedside table. “Your knife is there. I had it cleaned.”

Eren turned his head to stare at it. It gleamed, with not the slightest hint of blood. “Thank you. I, uh, should get going.” He shoved at the covers enough to give him space to stand, and then instantly pulled them back over him again when he noticed he was just wearing an undershirt.

It was a nice undershirt. Soft, expensive fabric, with subtle embroidery at the hem. It was definitely not the one he’d been wearing the night before. He coughed. “Um. Could I have my clothes back?” 

“One of the maids will bring them up shortly. They cleaned as much of the blood out as possible, though you probably won’t be able to save the shirt.” His eyes met Eren’s. “Your coat is fine, though.”

“My coat?” A dim memory poked through the fog still coating parts of Eren’s mind. He flushed. “Right. Thank you.”

Levi looked down at his daughter, who was watching Eren with interest. “Mikasa, could you ask my valet to bring Eren’s clothes up? And then you should get back to your lessons.”

“Yes, Papa.” She frowned up at her father. “But promise you’ll rest your shoulder. It needs to heal.”

When he nodded, she turned back to Eren, and, delicately pinching the sides of her frilly skirt, curtsied primly in his direction. “It was nice meeting you. I’m glad you weren’t one of the people who attacked papa.”

Eren smiled at her. “It was nice meeting you too, Mikasa. You seem like an very good daughter. Levi is lucky to have you.”

Instantly, and for the first time since he’d woken to find her threatening him with a knife, her serious air fractured. Her cheeks flushed, and the tips of her ears went bright red as she dipped into another far less primly proper curtsy, and then turned to dash out of the room with the two nursemaids following her out.

“She’s an interesting kid.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

Eren hesitated, looking down at his hands as they smoothed over the surface of the blanket. “I was sorry to hear about your wife. She seemed like a nice lady.” And she had. Eren had been intensely curious about her. He’d spent so much time with Levi when they’d been at school but had been taken by surprise when suddenly, in the middle of Levi’s final school year, his family had pulled him out and brought him home, hardly giving him time to pack his things. Barely weeks later Eren had heard he’d married a woman he’d never even heard Levi mention before.

Eren had tried sending him letters, but when he’d never heard back he’d had to decide Levi was either too busy, or had wanted to put a clean end to their friendship. Especially when he found out Levi was still in contact with his other friends who hadn’t graduated yet.

Still, when he’d heard Levi was in attendance at one of the few balls Eren had gone to in the brief gap between his entry into society and his father’s death he’d decided to try one more time. But before he could approach Levi himself, his mother had called him over and introduced him to the group of women she’d been speaking to – one of whom was Levi’s clearly pregnant wife.

Something about that moment had made it impossible for Eren to seek out Levi that night. Then his father had died, and that had been that. 

Levi paused, and then nodded. “She was a good woman. I didn’t know you’d met her.”

“Just once.” Eren smiled. “I should get home. If I can’t get the shirt clean, I might have to go hunting for a new one. Bloodstains probably won’t help convince the General I deserve another chance.” 

Saying nothing, Levi reached into his pocket and pulled out a billfold.

He moved with such simple assurance as he counted out several banknotes and handed them to Eren, that Eren took them before he realized what they were. Instantly, he shoved them back in Levi’s direction.

“I can’t take this.”

Levi stepped away from the bed, and Eren’s outstretched hand. “I insist. I ruined your shirt, after all.”

“No,” Eren said firmly and then slid out of the bed, ignoring the way his bare legs stuck out from beneath the slightly too small nightshirt. While Levi still seemed too surprised to dodge away, Eren grabbed his hand and stuffed the money back into it. “I let that man run into me all on my own. You don’t owe me anything. Please just give me back my clothes, and I’ll get out of your way.”

Levi kept his gaze up, fixedly, on Eren’s face. He nodded. “I’ll get your clothes brought up.”

* * *

**A Gentleman Returns Home**

When Eren stepped out of the carriage Levi had stuffed him into before Eren could insist on walking, the first thing he saw was the horse and wagon parked in front of his house.

His heart started to sink, until he saw the two roughly dressed men coming out of his front door, carrying a pair of all too familiar dining room chairs.

Then temper kicked in, wiping away the shock. 

With a muttered oath, he ran up the walkway, pushing past the two men, and burst into the house.

Inside, it took his eyes a moment to get used to the dark but when his vision adjusted, he saw his mother standing on the stairs leading down from the second floor. Her hands were tightly gripping the shawl she wore around her shoulders, and her face was pale.

Armin stood at the bottom of the stairs with his arms out, glaring at a man in far more elaborate clothes than the two outside. 

“There’s nothing up there you have any right to. Go away. You’ve already taken everything you’re getting from us today.”

“Now, Mr. Arlert. My boss has been very patient, but your family owes him a great deal of money and you haven’t been paying. He has his own bills, after all. We’re simply taking a few items to cover his expenses, nothing more.”

Armin scowled back at him. “And will you reduce our debt by the value of what you take today? Or will it just go into the same bottomless pit as everything else you’ve already taken?”

“Mr. Arlert,” the man said again, “there is the matter of interest and penalties to consider.”

As Eren stepped further into the foyer, Karla, still standing halfway up the stairs, spotted him. Instant relief spread across her face. “Eren! You’re home.”

The man turned, and smiled his usual oily smile at Eren. though he clearly wasn’t happy to see him. “Lord Jaeger. My boss sends his regards.”

“Leave. We have another week before the loan is up.” Fuming, fists clenched, Eren’s words came out with enough bite that he saw the man pale. He wouldn’t punch him. Eren had learned the hard way that beating up the loan shark’s people only led to worse trouble - like the imminent threat of debtor’s prison. 

Since the man was one of those who’d run into Eren before he’d learned that particular lesson, he took a cautious step back. “The boss is simply concerned since you haven’t made any payments in some time. It is rather a large amount to expect you to be able to pay all at once.”

Eren jammed his fists into his pockets, and to his shock felt something crinkle in one of them.

When he pulled it out, he stared at the money in his hand in shock. How in hell had that gotten into his pocket? It certainly wasn’t his, and it hadn’t been there when he’d put his pocket knife back in after he’d gotten dressed.

And then he remembered how remarkably close Levi had gotten while he’d been browbeating Eren into getting in the carriage. Eren had been so distracted by his nearness that he hadn’t even wondered why Levi would open the carriage door for him personally.

He must have put the money in his pocket then.

Gritting his teeth, Eren strode forward and jammed the wad of banknotes into the man’s chest.

“There. That should be enough for today. Now get out of my house.”

Eyes suddenly bright, the man counted out the money, and then smiled the most genuine smile he’d managed yet. “Of course, Lord Jaeger. Until next week, then.”

When he and his workmen were gone, Eren sighed deeply and scrubbed at his face to try and wipe away the remnants of his anger.

Armin and Karla exchanged looks, full of meaning, and then moved in.

“Where’d you get the money, Eren?” Armin asked. “And where were you last night? We were worried.”

Karla gasped. “Is that blood on your shirt?”

Letting his hands fall to his side, Eren smiled at his mother and his closest friend with genuine affection. “Good morning to you too.”

-

Once he’d finished explaining, his mother and Armin both sat back – his mother on the stairs with another thicker shawl Eren had gotten for her over her shoulders, while he and Armin had taken the floor.

There weren’t any chairs left in the house. It was the beds upstairs or nothing. 

“So your Levi is some sort of assassin now?” Karla’s eyes were bright, excited. 

“He’s not my Levi.”

Karla waved a hand through the air. “ _ Please _ , Eren. You never stopped talking about him when you were at school together. I used to worry you had no other friends until Armin told me Levi was just special.”

Eren shifted uncomfortably on the hard floor. “In any case. I don’t know what he is, but his daughter did say something about him working last night.” He hesitated, thinking. “How much do you think an assassin makes? Maybe I should ask him how to get into it.”

“He might not be an assassin,” Armin said. “It could have just been a mugging gone wrong.”

“I don’t know. But he’d be good at it, if he is one.”

Armin rolled his eyes. “You’d think Levi would be good at anything. I forgot how annoying you get when it comes to him.”

“I am not annoying. And you liked him too.”

“Yes, but I was a year behind you at school, so I only knew him for a few months before he left. And he never talked all that much when I was around.” He eyed Eren. “I bet he was happy to see you.”

“Why would he be? I probably messed up whatever he had going on, and then I passed out so he had to drag me back to his house.” Eren sighed, stretching out his legs in front of him. “In any case, I have to apologize to the two of you, too. If I hadn’t missed my appointment at the General’s house this morning we wouldn’t have to worry about the loan collectors anymore.”

At that, Armin looked down at his hands, and Karla scowled. 

Armin huffed out a breath. “If I had just a few more months and enough money to build my prototype, you wouldn’t have to marry yourself off just because of the family’s debts.”

“But we don’t have that time - or that money.” Eren gestured around the empty room. “We’ve got nothing left to sell. We’re just lucky that the General is interested enough in both your inventions and my title to be willing to pay everything off.” He tried for a smile. “Besides. Once I’m engaged to his daughter you’ll  _ have _ the money for your prototype, and the connection you need to produce it.” 

Armin frowned down at his feet. “Still. You should be able to marry for love. Maybe you should wait a little longer, to see if you meet someone.”

“Armin.” Eren scrubbed at the back of his head, avoiding the bruise that he’d gotten at some point during his drunken night. “Even if I could find some rich lady to fall in mutual love with, it’s not exactly a romantic thing to immediately ask her for a great deal of money. No matter how in love she might be, I doubt she’d appreciate it.”

Since there was no real argument for that, Armin said nothing.

In the silence that followed, Eren stared at the tiny dust specks floating in the single beam of sunlight that poured in through the window over the door. Apart from the three of them, the dust, and the patch of light the sunbeam left on the floor, the foyer was completely empty.

This house might be nothing but an empty shell, but it was the only home he, Armin, and his mother had. He’d do whatever he needed to do to preserve it. 

“I’ll come tonight,” Armin spoke abruptly. “Maybe I’ll find some miraculous, rich investor. One who’ll invest in my projects  _ and _ pay off your father’s debts.” He turned, shot a smile at Eren. “No need for romance there.”

Eren laughed. “I’m up for a miracle tonight.” He got to his feet, dusted himself off. “But for now, I’d better get ready to apologize as planned. I think I have another good shirt hidden in a drawer upstairs.”

But as he neared the stairs, he caught sight of the expression on his mother’s face.

And it ripped at his heart.

“Mom, it’s alright.” Crouching in front of her, he smiled up at her encouragingly. “She’s not a bad lady. We’ll get along decently enough.”

“ _ Decently enough _ . That’s not enough to build a good marriage on.” 

“Plenty of others do.”

She reached out, cupped his cheek. “Maybe, but I wanted better for you. Didn’t you always say you’d never marry if you couldn’t marry for love?”

“I sure was an unrealistic kid, wasn’t I? I’m all grown up now.”

She scowled down at him, and he was grateful to see the temper that he’d inherited from her start to push aside the sadness in her eyes. “I liked you better as a kid.”

“Why? Was I cuter back then?”

She poked at his cheek. “Lots cuter. You’re so boring now.”

“Hey!” He jerked his head back in protest. “What is it with all you girls and poking my cheek?”

She angled her head in question as Eren got back up to his feet. “Girls?” 

“Levi’s daughter, Mikasa. She’s a smart one. But  _ she _ used a knife to poke at me.” He paused, studied his mother. “I really do think you’d get along.”

“I look forward to meeting her. She sounds like fun.”

“Someday, I’m sure you will.” Eren leaned forward, pressed a kiss to his mother’s forehead. “But for now, I’m going to go be a boring grown-up.”

* * *

** A Gentleman Grovels **

The groveling went well.

Eren had given a carefully edited explanation, sincerely apologized, and then requested a new appointment with the General for the following morning.

Then he’d waited while the General chewed on the end of his pipe as he’d stared at Eren for a long, painful, minute. A minute that Eren had spent trying very hard not to think about what few options he’d have left if the General turned him away.

He’d almost cheered when the man had given him a brusque nod, then turned to his daughter and told her to ‘dance with the boy’.

With that duty done too, Eren gratefully escaped back to Armin’s side as he stood out of the worst of the crowd. 

“How’d it go?”

“About as well as I could expect. I have an appointment at eight sharp tomorrow morning.” Eren snatched up one of the glasses from a passing waiter’s tray and gulped down the warm, watered-down wine. “By this time tomorrow I’ll be engaged, and all our financial problems will be over.”

Armin started to speak, but shut his mouth abruptly when his eyes slid to something past Eren’s shoulder.

“Your hangover must not have been as bad as it looked if you’re already drinking again.”

Whirling at the familiar voice, Eren found Levi standing behind him, beside another man Eren most definitely recognized.

Erwin Smith had graduated a year ahead of Levi, but he’d been one of the few students Levi hadn’t seemed to mind spending time with. He was a big man, both physically and – as someone who’d been forced to take over the reins of his father’s dukedom at the age of nine – in aura.

As a boy, Eren had found him a little intimidating, which had pissed him off enough that he’d picked a fight with him every chance he could get.

Erwin hadn’t seemed to mind, particularly.

These days, they weren’t friends, exactly, but Eren thought they were probably  _ something _ . He was pretty sure they didn’t hate each other, in any case. 

“Lord Ackerman. Your Grace.”

“Lord Jaeger.” Erwin smiled blandly back at Eren. “I heard one of Levi’s acquaintances ran into you unexpectedly last night.” 

Eren heard Armin choke a little behind him. He slid his eyes sideways to Levi’s face, trying to read his expression. “Something like that.”

“Well, his lucky accident was our good fortune too.” Erwin’s bland smile deepened. “After all, it reunited the two of you. You were such good friends, back in the day.”

“Erwin,” Levi bit out. “Didn’t you say you wanted to speak to Mr. Arlert? You should get on with that. I need to talk to Eren.”

“Ah, yes.” When Erwin’s eyes slid past Eren to Armin, Eren could have sworn he saw something slightly predatory cross over his face. He stepped forward, holding out his hand with such self-assurance that Armin shook it before he had time to realize what he was doing. “Mr. Arlert, I’ve been looking forward to picking your brain for some time.”

“You have?” Armin shot Eren an alarmed glance.

“I’ve heard great things about the work you’ve been doing in developing a new rechargeable battery, and I’ve been following your articles in the  _ Academy Journal _ on the possible future uses of electricity in the manufacturing industry.”

“You read my articles?” In an instant, the panic on Armin’s face was replaced by bright, starry-eyed delight. “You liked them?”

“Absolutely. I was hoping to find out more about where you stand on your prototype.” Smoothly, Erwin rested one hand on Armin’s shoulder as he steered him firmly away. 

Eren glared at Levi. “You didn’t have to do that. I’d have talked to you even without using the Duke to distract Armin.”

“You’re thinking too much. Erwin has always been interested in new technology, he asked me to introduce him to Arlert all on his own. In any case, we need to talk.”

When Levi took a step towards him, Eren took a step back before he realized what he was doing.

Levi’s lips tightened a little, but he stayed where he was. “I saw you danced with the General’s daughter. All is forgiven, then?”

“Huh?” Eren blinked, baffled by the topic. “Oh, yes. I propose tomorrow morning.”

For some reason, that seemed to annoy Levi. He scowled at Eren. “What did you tell him about last night that was convincing enough for him to overlook you standing them up?”

Eren suddenly realized why Levi was bringing this up. He must want to make sure Eren didn’t spill any sensitive details about what had happened. 

“I really was very drunk last night. I don’t remember much at all, and it’s all sort of fuzzy. I couldn’t describe anyone’s faces or anything. I didn’t mention you to the General at all.”

All  _ that _ got him was an exasperated look from Levi.

Eren didn’t pay it much attention since he’d just remembered the other thing he had to discuss with Levi. He hesitated, uncomfortable, but knowing he had to speak. “Look, Levi, thank you for the money you put in my pocket, but I want to return it. It’s just…I ended up using it. I’m sorry; it was an emergency. But I’ll pay you back by the end of the week.” Somehow. Even if he had to beg his soon-to-be fiancée for an extra cash advance.

After all, their relationship couldn’t possibly get any  _ less _ romantic.

Levi’s lips firmed into a line. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I didn’t have to buy a new shirt.” Eren flipped open the panels of his jacket and tugged at the front of his shirt, so the fabric was pulled tight across his chest. “I had another one already, see?”

Levi’s eyes lingered on Eren’s chest, before slowly shifting back up to his face. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“The money you hid in my pocket, to replace my shirt. I’ll pay it back as soon as I can.”

Levi lifted his chin in a move that instantly made Eren think of Mikasa. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, so drop it. You’re being annoying now.”

Eren’s shoulders stiffened. “Annoying?  _ You’re _ annoying. Just take the damn money back, okay?”

The irritation in Levi’s eyes vanished, and amusement flashed in to replace it. “You really haven’t changed, have you?”

Still fired up, Eren’s own chin firmed. “Of course I have. We were both school kids back then. I’m the head of my family now, for what it’s worth, and you have your daughter.”  _ And whatever work it is that has you getting into fights with thugs in alleyways in the middle of the night. _

But Eren kept that last thought to himself.

Instead, as his temper fizzled out at the memory of the night before, his eyes went to Levi’s left arm. “How’s your shoulder?”

“It’s fine.”

“Good.” Eren hesitated, but couldn’t think of what else to say, so just settled with “I’m glad.”

“Eren,” Levi said abruptly, “I need to ask you something.”

When Eren looked into his face, he saw something in it that told him whatever Levi was about to ask was the real reason he’d come looking for him tonight.

This time, when he took a step forward, Eren held his ground.

“I have to ask, Eren,” Levi began again, “Do you-”

His words cut off abruptly, as Eren saw his eyes catch on something behind him. Whatever it was, it made Levi’s eyes widen in shock, and then narrow into what Eren thought might be fury.

But when Eren turned to look, all he saw was the usual mass of people who filled a ballroom.

“Excuse me. I have to check on something.” Levi was already walking away before Eren could finish turning back to him. 

But a few steps away, Levi paused just long enough to shoot a look over his shoulder. “You should go home.” 

Too surprised to be offended, Eren watched Levi push through the crowd and disappear through an open veranda door into the garden.

Eren knew, if he were to come up with a list of the smartest actions he could take right at that moment, finding Armin and heading home to prepare for his morning appointment would probably be top of the list.

Dead last would be following after Levi. He should  _ not _ get any more mixed up with whatever Levi was involved in. It wasn’t like Levi would thank him for it and Eren had enough problems of his own.

But he couldn’t stop thinking of that moment of shock he’d seen on Levi’s face. It wasn’t an expression he’d ever seen him wear before, and there had been an edge to it that told Eren he’d been more than just surprised to see whatever, whoever he’d seen. He’d been  _ worried _ .

Even before he made the conscious decision to move, Eren found himself maneuvering through the crowd after Levi. 

The terrace was empty when Eren stepped outside, but as there were plenty of lamps lit all around the outside of the house he imagined there were more than a few couples strategically scattered through the maze-like garden. 

As he stepped off of stone and onto grass, the noise of the ballroom behind him started to recede. By the time he was far enough away for the tall bushes to completely block his view of the house, he started noticing how very silent the garden was.

There was no wind, no birds, and though he knew there had to be others nearby, he heard no voices.

He was strangely unsurprised when he came around a corner and saw the body lying in a pool of light ahead of him. 

It wasn’t until he was close enough to see the pale hand lying palm up, and while the face was turned away from him he could see the man on the ground had dark hair, cut slightly longer than was fashionable, that a cold arrow of fear jolted through him. 

But when he got close enough to see the pale hand lying palm up, on the ground, and the dark hair, cut slightly longer than was fashionable, a shaft of cold fear jolted through him.

He started walking faster, and was a few steps away from the body when someone slid into place behind him and clamped a hand over his mouth.

Before he could resist, he was dragged behind one of the statues that dotted the garden, into an alcove carved into the bushes. A hard body pressed against his chest, and sharp branches poked into his back as Eren stared down into Levi’s furious face. 

“For fuck’s sake, Eren, what are you doing out here?” Levi hissed.

Eren couldn’t have given a response, because Levi’s cold palm was still pressed tightly over his mouth, but even if he’d been free to talk he wouldn’t have had the slightest clue of how to explain why he’d felt he had to follow Levi. Why he’d had to make sure Levi was alright.

“I told you to  _ go home _ , because, knowing you, if you were anywhere nearby and things went bad you’d still somehow get caught up in it. But I didn’t expect you to come walking up to the  _ damn body _ . If anyone had seen you…”

He trailed off, his head turning sharply as they both heard voices coming their way. From the light, delicate laughter, and the amused, deeper voice, it didn’t sound as if whoever it was had seen the body yet. The maze was intricate enough that they could pass yards away and not go down this particular path.

The branches jabbing into Eren’s back were making him feel funny. That had to be why he was suddenly restless, uncomfortable, as though his clothes were all just a little too tight. Trying to calm himself he drew in a deep breath. 

And smelled Levi. Clean, sharp, with an underlying warmth from the cedarwood soap he’d always preferred. 

Eren hadn’t realized he’d remembered the scent of Levi’s soap.

Still trying to calm down, Eren lifted his gaze from the top of Levi’s head and had to blink when he realized his eye line was perfectly aligned with the round, white marble buttocks of the muscular cupid statue they were hidden behind.

For some strange reason, Eren found himself blushing.

The voices receded, and Levi relaxed fractionally. “Let’s go,” he said quietly. “No point in waiting for whoever else might come along.”

He pulled away, but Eren stayed frozen against the bushes, wondering why he felt so disappointed.

As Levi eased out to the path from behind the statue, Eren finally realized he needed to move. As he stepped out after Levi he took one last look at the body on the ground. He didn’t know how he’d mistaken it earlier, it really looked nothing like Levi. The hair was more brown than black, and from where Eren stood now he could see the man’s jaw was much broader, more of a square.

Just as he started to turn away, to follow after Levi, his heel caught on a rock buried in the path beneath his feet. He tripped, off balance enough that he only just caught himself before he went sprawling onto the ground beside the body.

He was breathing a sigh of relief just as a small crowd of well-dressed men and women walked onto the path directly ahead of him, and the very first thing they saw was Eren, standing over the dead body.

One woman fainted, and as the man beside her caught her weight he pointed directly at Eren, his eyes wide, and fury on his face.

“You  _ murderer _ .” 

Eren sighed.

* * *

** A Gentleman Attends Breakfast **

Dawn had already broken by the time Eren dropped face down onto his bed. He was almost certain the police inspectors who’d been called by the irate crowd didn’t think he’d had anything to do with the dead man, especially once they’d discovered that none of the other staff working in the house had ever seen him before, despite the fact that he wore the same livery. 

He’d heard the inspectors say it was most likely a falling out between thieves, who’d been planning on stealing from the attendees at the ball.

Since Eren hadn’t mentioned Levi, and since no one but Eren had seen Levi in the garden, he imagined that was likely where it would all end up.

For the second morning in a row, Eren had a raging headache, and this time he hadn’t even gotten to get drunk first. 

Lying fully dressed on top of the blankets, Eren rolled over to stare at the ceiling above his bed. Tired as he was, he was filthy. He really should clean himself up, get ready to head to the General’s house in a few hours.

But he was so  _ very _ tired.

Fine. He’d sleep, but only for a little bit. When the big clock downstairs struck the next hour, he’d get up, get ready. For sure.

-

When Eren woke, groggy, bleary, and without a headache, he already knew it was well past eight. He sat up slowly and scrubbed his hands over his face.

_ Shit. _

He pressed his fists to his eyes. Well, fuck. The big clock downstairs had been sold months ago. He knew that. He could only blame how tired he’d been for momentarily forgetting.

Sighing, he flopped back onto the bed. It looked like he had some more groveling in his near future. Luckily, the General wanted Armin’s mind just as much as he wanted his grandchildren to have titles, or else he’d probably have already washed his hands of him.

He supposed he’d better get dressed and get to the apologising. Although, when he glanced down at himself, he realized he’d have to undress first.

He hoped he had  _ something _ decent left to wear.

-

When he made it to the dining room Eren found Armin sitting cross-legged on the chairless table, while Karla sat, her legs dangling, on the sideboard.

The two pieces of furniture were too big to get out through the doorway without dismantling it, so, as of yet, they hadn’t been sold or taken. 

Karla turned to smile at Eren when he walked in. She picked up a cup that had been sitting on the sideboard beside her hip, held it out to him. “Breakfast?”

Eren blinked, even as he walked across the room to take it from her. “This is breakfast?”

“Mm. I found some tea in a box at the back of a cupboard.” Armin said as he sipped his own cup. “It’s better than hot water.” He lifted his eyes to meet Eren’s. “The grocer’s son came by. He said his father was sorry, but we owe too much so he won’t trade us for food anymore.”

Eren hitched himself up on the table next to Armin. “I’ll take another look around dad’s study, see if there’s anything left we can sell.” 

“I have some lace from my grandmother in my sewing kit,” Karla spoke briskly, not a hint of distress on her face. “That should get us enough money for a week’s worth of food, at least.”

“No, Mom, we can’t sell-”

“Eren,” she interrupted firmly, and nodded at the cup in his hand. “Aren’t you going to drink your breakfast?”

With a sigh, Eren sipped at the tea. It wasn’t bad. “I guess you guys figured out that I missed my appointment again.” 

Armin studied him out of the corner of his eye. “I heard you found another body. Two in two nights.”

Karla sipped delicately from her cup. “Life sure is exciting when your Levi is involved.”

“He’s not my Levi,” Eren said automatically, but found his mind lingering on the memory of Levi’s body as it had pressed up against his the night before. To his shock, he felt a flush burning up his cheeks, and he took a giant swallow of his tea so he didn’t have to look at his mother.

“Levi was with you when you found the body, wasn’t he? Did the police talk to him too?” Armin asked.

“No one else saw him. There was no point in bringing him into it so I didn’t mention he’d been there.”

Armin shot him a disbelieving look. “Uh-huh. Because he’s not  _ already _ involved up to his eyebrows.”

Eren shrugged and gulped down the rest of his tea. “That isn’t my concern. What  _ is _ my concern is going over to the General’s house this morning, and asking them to forgive me. Again.” He sighed. “I’d better get engaged before he decides we’re not worth it and we can’t even afford hot water for breakfast.”

* * *

**A Lady Interferes**

Eren sat on a bench in the park a block away from the General’s house, his head back and his eyes closed as he tried to let the warmth of the unusually bright day wash away the chill that seemed to have embedded itself into his bones.

This morning’s set of apologies had been as coldly painful as Eren had expected them to be. He didn’t blame the General or his daughter at all – he’d stood the both of them up twice. If it had been his daughter being treated like this, Eren didn’t think he’d have accepted the apology. He’d have kicked his own ass out of the house.

Instead, the General had seemed more annoyed that Eren had come in the ‘middle of the afternoon’, and that he’d been so insistent on speaking to him though it was out of the allotted visiting hours.

With Mikasa’s words revolving in his head, Eren hadn’t wanted his would-be fiancée to think that he simply hadn’t cared enough to bother showing up. Just in case some of her feelings  _ were _ involved, he’d insisted on seeing her too, to explain what had happened the night before.

That had been even more painful than his conversation with the General.

She’d been working on some sort of embroidery when he’d been let into the parlor, and as he’d given his explanations her eyes had never once lifted from her neat stitches. Even when he mentioned coming across the dead body, her expression had stayed just as calm, just as neutral as when she’d politely greeted him.

“I heard there was a commotion in the garden. So, you were involved.”

“Only by chance.” Eren’s own eyes had been drawn to the smooth, competent motion of her fingers. The tiny needle she held seemed to almost fly through and over cloth, leaving colored threads behind, like magic. “The police simply wanted to be certain, before they let me go.”

“You should be more careful to avoid such things. My father does not appreciate being in any way linked to scandal. Neither do I.”

And that had been that. Eren had been shown out by a blank-faced butler, and the door had been firmly closed at his back, not to open again until 8 AM the following morning.

With a sigh, Eren let his head fall back to thunk against the back of the bench. The increasingly loud voice in his head that kept telling him he was about to make a giant, unfixable, life-ruining mistake started yelling again. He shoved it away, and under, as he always did.

What choice did he have? This was his family’s only chance to climb out of the massive hole of debt his father had left them in. Armin’s mind was brilliant. He deserved the chance to change the world, and Eren hadn’t been able to convince him to turn his back on them to go off on his own. Karla was strong and capable, but there weren’t many options for her to make a living that Eren could bear thinking about.

Plus, she wouldn’t turn her back on the remaining members of her family any more than Armin would.

As for remarrying, if one of the two of them had to marry for necessity, it would be him. Eren would never let that burden fall on his mother.

At 8 AM the following morning, come hell or high water or dead body, Eren would be in the General’s office, formally requesting leave to pay his addresses to his daughter. And by 9 AM, he would be engaged to a very good, very smart, and very practical woman.

With no way out.

Eyes aching a little, Eren stared up into the bright blue sky. The clouds floating past were fluffy, idyllic. So perfectly formed that they seemed out of place in Eren’s otherwise messed-up world.

“Excuse me, Lord Jaeger.”

Brought out of his thoughts by the childish voice, Eren lifted his head and saw Mikasa Ackerman standing in front of him. She wore a different dress today, this one in pale, robin egg blue, but it was just as covered with ruffles and bows as the last one. Behind her, the two well-built nursemaids stared at him with slightly threatening expressions.

“Lady Mikasa. What are you doing here?”

Her eyebrows lifted in a move so like her father’s that it made something tighten inside Eren’s chest. “Am I not allowed to take a walk in a public park?”

Eren smiled. He really couldn’t help but like her. “Of course. But your house is half the city away.”

“I felt like going somewhere new this morning.”

“Then it was lucky chance that I happened to be in the same park you chose to go to.”

“Yes. Lucky chance.” She said nothing else, but stayed standing in front of the bench, staring up at him. As the silence lengthened, he saw frustration slowly building on her face.

It reminded Eren of some of his early conversations with Levi, before Levi had been comfortable enough to simply speak his thoughts as they were. It told Eren there was something she wanted to talk to him about, but that she didn’t know how to begin.

“Would you like to sit and watch the sky with me for a few minutes? It’s a nice day.”

The relief that immediately filled her face told him it had been the right thing to ask. Quickly, she darted forward, clambering up onto the bench with as much dignity as any smaller-than-average seven year old in a frothy dress could manage. Eren very carefully did not show any signs of amusement on his face. 

When she sat beside him, hands primly folded on her knees, she nodded at the two maids. “Please move a short distance away, I want to speak with Lord Jaeger.

The two maids nodded, and moved back just enough that if Mikasa spoke quietly, they wouldn’t hear it. One kept her eyes fixed on the two of them, while the other scanned the vicinity.

She still said nothing, at first, but Eren let it ride. If she was anything like Levi had been, she’d speak when she was ready.

As he watched the clouds float by, he realized they didn’t seem so out of place anymore.

“Is it true that you and my father were friends before he married my mother?”

Surprised, Eren glanced at Mikasa, saw her eyes were on her hands. “I thought we were, yes.”

“You changed your mind?”

“No, but-” Eren hesitated. “We lost contact after he married. I think I mistook how...how close we were.” Eren made himself smile, and pushed away the memory of the day he’d found out Levi hadn’t cut off anyone else. He’d been the only one of Levi’s friends, still at school or not, that Levi hadn’t wanted to speak to anymore. “Your father can be hard to read, sometimes.”

She nodded and swung her feet up to study the tips of her leather shoes. “But you liked him.”

Eren hesitated, thinking back. He remembered the way he’d felt every time Levi had sought him out, the warm pleasure of simply spending time in the same room together. How his eyes had looked for Levi, wherever he went. How utterly lost he’d been when Levi had disappeared from the school, and when every one of the letters he’d sent had gone unanswered.

He’d never felt that way about anyone else, but he didn’t know what else to call it but ‘like’. 

“He was my favorite person.” Eren said simply, because that, at least, was a truth he knew. 

When he looked back, he saw Mikasa was peeking up at him from the corner of her eyes.

“He talks about you, sometimes.”

“Does he?”

She nodded. “And he has sketches of you in his study.”

“He practically slept with a pencil and paper in his hand. He probably has sketches of half the school.” But Eren couldn’t help the warm pleasure that made his lips curve. “My mother tells me I used to talk about him all the time, too.”

“Your mother?” Her gaze dropped back to the hands still folded in her lap. “The one you said would like me?”

“I mentioned you to her. She said she was looking forward to meeting you.”

“She wants to meet me?” Her head whipped around, and she stared up at him with suddenly bright eyes. “Really?” 

The usual gravity that made her look so much older than her years had vanished, leaving behind a childishness that made Eren have to fight the urge to reach out and ruffle her hair. “She does. Although I imagine the two of you will probably end up ganging up on me, once you team up.”

She opened her mouth, and then shut it again. When she spoke, her voice was carefully casual. “Most grown-ups don’t like me. I’m  _ precocious _ . Apparently.”

“Is that so?” Eren tilted his head in thought. “People used to say that about me, too.”

“They did?” Her eyes went wide. 

“Uh-huh.” Eren grinned at her. “I think that probably just means you’re smarter than they are. The people that used to call me precocious, in  _ that _ particular tone of voice, all turned out to be pretty stupid in the end.”

She nodded, and her sudden smile was full of mischief. “Dad says they’re idiots, too.”

Eren nodded. “See?”

She turned back to her shoes, and stretched out her toes into a point. “I also heard that with me around, it’d be hard for Papa to get married again. That I’d scare off any good candidates.”

Eren’s back stiffened. “What assho- what idiot said something like that to you?”

“Not  _ to _ me. But people say what they really mean more when they don’t know you’re there to hear them. I’m good at being places people don’t expect.”

Eren thought of her waking him up with a knife in his face, when her father had thought she was studying. “I bet. Look. Any woman who’d be scared off by you wouldn’t deserve you. Or Levi, either.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes, I do.” Though Eren had to suppress an odd discomfort at the mental image of a faceless woman standing beside Levi, holding Mikasa’s hand. “Whatever woman marries Levi and gets you for a daughter would be dam- would be lucky.” 

“ _ You _ wouldn’t be bothered to have me around, would you?”

“Of course not.”

She thought deeply for a long moment, and then nodded firmly. “My father will be at a house party at Uncle Erwin’s this evening. He would like you to attend as well.” 

Utterly thrown, Eren stared at her. “What?”

“It’s too late to send a formal invitation, and he doesn’t have time to come tell you himself. You will attend, won’t you?” She stared up at him with guileless eyes.

Eren hesitated. He really should spend the evening at home, going to bed early and preparing to get to the General’s house on time in the morning.

“It would make both my father and I happy if you would go.” 

She watched him so hopefully, he couldn’t bring himself to ask her what him attending a house party with her father had to do with her. He also couldn’t bear to disappoint the expectant look on her face. She was Levi’s daughter, and for that alone, he’d have been prepared to like her, but she was quickly grabbing a corner of his heart all on her own.

He smiled, and this time let himself reach out to lightly pat the top of her head.

She blinked, but didn’t move away.

“Alright. I’ll go.”

Almost as soon as the words were out of Eren’s mouth, she was hopping off the bench. “Excellent. Please make sure to find my father the  _ instant _ you get there.” And with that, without giving Eren a chance to say another word, she gave him one of her prim, proper curtsies, and then quickly marched away, her nursemaids falling into step beside her.

* * *

**A Gentleman is Surprised**

What in  _ hell _ was Eren doing here.

At the table set up in Erwin’s card room, Levi looked up as one of Erwin’s unformed footmen showed a clearly taken aback Eren into the room.

He shot Erwin a glare, but Erwin just shook his head fractionally, telling Levi he didn’t know what Eren was doing there either.

This wasn’t exactly a society event, and from the look on Eren’s face, he’d obviously already noticed how out of place he was. The attendees might have more money than most but very few of them had gotten it through entirely legal means. Erwin and Levi had been careful with who they invited since the chances of bystanders getting hurt or arrested tonight were high, if their plan went badly. 

And the plan had already been going badly enough  _ before _ Eren walked in.

Eren’s eyes found Levi, and clear relief spread across his features, only to fade into caution when he registered the expression on Levi’s face.

He smiled, but there was no hiding the look in his eyes that told Levi he’d realized something was very, very wrong, “I think there’s been some mistake. I’ll speak to you some other time, Levi.”

“ _ Levi _ ?” The man sitting across from Levi - and the whole cause, purpose, and target of tonight’s charade - laughed softly. Languidly leaning back in his chair, he studied Eren. “You must be one of Lord Ackerman’s friends. Stay, stay. He has so few, doesn’t he? We should all help him cultivate them whenever possible.” He shot Levi a playful glance. “Don’t you agree,  _ Levi _ ?”

Levi felt his muscles tense, but the slight kick Erwin aimed at his leg under the table made him moderate his words when he replied. “Your assistance is unnecessary, Baxter.”

“I’m sorry to have interrupted your game. I’ll take my leave for now.” Eren took a full step backwards towards the door. “I’ll just find Le- find Lord Ackerman again when he’s not in the middle of something.”

“Oh, don’t leave just yet.” Baxter’s smile turned sharp as he turned to face Levi. “Where in the world did you find such a polite young man?”

Levi scowled up at Eren, trying to tell him with his eyes to get gone, faster. “Lord Jaeger and I attended school together.”

“Oh, dear.  _ Lord Jaeger _ .” Baxter flinched dramatically. “How cold that sounds.” He smiled at Eren. “Come, sit. You can tell us all of Lord Ackerman’s embarrassing childhood stories as revenge.”

Levi fought the urge to simply jump up, bundle Eren under his arm, and carry him far, far away from the growing interest he heard Baxter’s voice.

He couldn’t. He  _ knew _ he couldn’t. It would ruin everything, and as many surprises as Baxter had already tossed at them that evening, they could still take him down tonight if they held their ground. 

But it would be a hell of a lot easier if he didn’t have to worry about Eren getting involved. “The table is full. There’s no room for him anyway.”

“We can certainly handle that.” Baxter smiled at another of the players at the table, a nervous merchant with a round, bald head, currently shiny with sweat. “You’re done, aren’t you?”

The merchant gulped, slapped his cards down on the table, and stood so quickly that his chair almost hit the floor.

As he hurried out of the room, Baxter gestured at his seat. “There, problem solved.”

Eren smiled politely at Baxter. “That’s very kind of you, but I don’t gamble.”

Lord Baxter’s eyebrows shot up. “No?”

Without the slightest hint of embarrassment, Eren waggled his empty hands in the air and spoke easily, “I’m flat broke. Barely a coin to my name.”

Levi wanted to kick him. Didn’t he know that that air of bold self-assurance he put on, despite the fact that he was clearly at a disadvantage, would only fascinate Baxter?

Sure enough, Baxter’s eyes sharpened as he studied Eren. “You really are a very interesting young man. I must get to know you better.” His smile stayed in place even as he gestured unhurriedly towards the two liveried men standing behind him, sending them to station themselves on either side of the door Eren had just come through. “Since this is for my sake, I’ll spot you, shall I?” He made another slight motion, and another man who’d been standing against the wall came forward, holding out a small box.

Lifting the heavily carved lid, Baxter pulled out a thin bar of gold that made Eren’s eyes pop a little in his head. He threw it down into the center of the table and then smiled at the man sitting beside him until he quickly shifted around the table to the open seat. He turned back to Eren and gestured to the now free space beside him. “Come. If you lose, then simply take it as me buying some time from one of Lord Ackerman’s rare friends. If you win, then you’ll have a few more coins to your name.” 

Eren’s eyes shifted, meeting Levi’s. In them, Levi saw both a rueful acknowledgement that Baxter had chosen his bait well, and the clear knowledge that no man with the wealth to do so would donate a gold bar to a stranger out of simple goodwill. Especially not a man who’d essentially already blocked off his path of retreat. 

“What do you say, Lord Ackerman? Shouldn’t you encourage your friend to play?” Baxter sent Levi a challenging look. “Unless you have some plans for this evening that you’d rather he wasn’t a part of?”

Knowing they were all well caught, Levi met Eren’s eyes and slowly nodded, even as he silently vowed that he would  _ not _ let Eren get hurt tonight, no matter what he had to do to prevent it. 

  
  


* * *

**A Gentleman Attends a House Party**

Eren scowled down at his cards.

He shouldn’t have come.

It wasn’t even a question in Eren’s mind anymore, as it had been when he’d been escorted through the houseful of guests. The very few familiar faces he’d spotted weren’t usually his type of crowd, and while he knew he’d been too busy to pay much attention lately he hadn’t thought they’d been part of Erwin’s usual crowd either.

The men he’d recognized weren’t the type of dissolute rake that the popular novels his mother used to leave all over the house - and which Eren had read simply because they were  _ there _ \- described as ideal future husbands for young women of strong moral character, once they’d been properly reformed. 

Instead, the wealthy and bored young lords he’d seen on his walk through the house were more the type of ‘dissolute’ that was likely to die destitute, or of disease, after they finished wasting away their fortunes and bodies in the worst brothels and gambling dens the city had to offer. He’d found his head spinning a little as he’d been guided through the crowd that lazed across the sofas filling Erwin’s grand salon and had had to hold his breath once he realized the haze of perfume and tobacco hanging in the air had a heavy edge of opium, too. 

These weren’t people Eren would expect Erwin to know well enough to invite into his home. 

He’d seen very few women, and those he’d spotted all wore world-weary expressions beneath their heavy make-up. The remaining guests - those who didn’t simply pretend he wasn’t there - eyed him with a whole range of calculation, disinterest, and hostility on their faces. 

But what had told Eren he ought to turn around and leave, even before he’d arrived at the card room and found out what a major mess he’d walked into, were the burly men who were stationed in every room and corridor they passed through. They didn’t wear the same uniform as the butler and footmen who’d greeted Eren, and from the assortment of scars and weapons and bashed in noses they displayed, he very much doubted they were there for a good reason. 

The guests studiously ignored them, but there was a level of tension throughout the house that told Eren the situation could go bad, quickly. 

Then he’d walked into the card room and it had all gotten a lot worse.

He cursed at himself. He should have just turned away at the front door. He shouldn’t have even come in the first place.

He’d almost talked himself into staying home and had even pulled out one of their precious pieces of paper, ready to write a letter of apology to Mikasa and Levi. After all, if there was any chance of anyone getting stood up it really shouldn’t be the General and his daughter. 

He hadn’t been able to write it. 

Something about what Mikasa had asked him that morning had made him start wondering about all sorts of things, and no matter how hard the thoughts swirled around in his head he hadn’t been able to come up with any answers.

He barely understood the questions. 

All he knew for certain was that he’d needed to see Levi one last time before he tied himself down to his new life, so he’d come. Which, now that he was here, turned out to have been a stupid thing to do. 

Around the table, a number of obviously wealthy men from all walks of life nervously avoided making eye contact with the man sitting beside Eren. 

They weren’t all that comfortable with Levi or Erwin, either, but at least those two didn’t give Eren an almost visceral urge to keep his hand gripped around the small knife in his pocket. 

Levi had called the man Baxter, though the others at the table addressed him as Lord Baxter. His voice was exceptionally cultured and his clothes and manners were better than most dukes Eren had met, but he’d had never heard of him before. 

All the uniformed men that had made Eren so uncomfortable as he’d walked through the house seemed to be his, and from the way Baxter referred to them when he talked to Erwin, they seemed to be there as a not-so-vague threat to guarantee his own safety.

He made pointed comments aimed at almost everyone at the table, and the more nervous the others became, the more he seemed to be having the time of his life. 

But he was far more focused on Levi than on anyone else in the room.

Eren didn’t know what lay between the two of them, but he knew that as interested in Eren as the man pretended to be, all his light, playful banter was simply aimed at getting a rise out of Levi. 

It was mostly working, too.

All in all, it was a thoroughly miserable gathering in Erwin’s card room, but Eren’s least favorite part of it all, and what made the current situation almost intolerable, was the fact that he couldn’t seem to lose. 

It was incredibly frustrating. The money would have drastically changed his immediate plans for his life, if he hadn’t realized within minutes of sitting down that if he tried to keep it the man beside him would probably have his throat slit before he got halfway home.

And if he planned to let Eren live with his money, it would be because he had some future use for him. Eren very much doubted he’d enjoy being included in any plans that made this man happy.

He wanted the stack of money and valuables piled up in front of him with a desire that was almost overwhelming. He could have cried just looking at it, and yet he’d have gladly lost it all just so he could leave. 

But he kept  _ winning _ .

It was maddening.

A woman walked in, her neat black dress standing out harshly against the silks and jewels worn by most of the other guests. She stepped around the table and rested a hand on Baxter’s shoulder as she leaned down to speak directly into his ear.

Though Eren was closest to them both, he couldn’t make out a single syllable of her words.

As she straightened back up, Baxter beamed at the others sitting around the table.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you to it.” As he stood, he aimed a sparkling smile at Eren. “Until next time, Lord Jaeger.”

All but one of the men who wore Baxter’s uniform stayed in the room, but Eren wasn’t even remotely surprised when both Erwin and Levi stood up from the table the instant Baxter was out the door. 

And he wasn’t at all irritated when Levi marched around the table and growled into his ear, 

“Go home, Eren. Now.”

As Levi walked out, Eren smiled at the others still at the table, and with every intention of immediately walking out of the house and heading straight home, stood up to go. 

  
  


* * *

**A Gentleman is Detained**

Baxter seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Levi stood in the shadows beneath the grand stairway of Erwin’s house, scowling. He’d had his men search every inch of the too-large house and the gardens outside. If Baxter was still on the grounds he was nowhere they could find, though his men were still in place. If he’d left none of the people Erwin had stationed at every possible exit – and some impossible exits – had seen where he’d gone.

If he’d gotten away yet again, it meant everything they’d done so far had been for nothing.

They’d been hunting him for almost a year, and they’d thought they knew him well enough to be sure he wouldn’t be able to resist coming tonight.

And he hadn’t. 

_ They _ hadn’t, however, expected him to waltz in with an entire platoon of men, who’d bulled their way in through the light security Erwin had specifically set up to make Baxter think they weren’t expecting him, and positioned themselves to, as Baxter put it, ‘present a strong rebuttal’ if anyone attempted to lay their hands on him. 

Since they weren’t prepared for a bloodbath, Erwin and Levi had had to change their original plans. 

But they were so close to  _ finishing _ this. Levi did not want to have to deal with another year of constant assassination attempts, or, conversely, the constant messages asking why he hadn’t dealt with the man yet.

He had a life he wanted to get back to and he needed to be able to give that all the attention it required, before it was too late.

He was pretty sure he only had until the morning. 

Moving away from the stairs, he decided to do one more walkthrough of the ground level, but he’d only taken two steps away from the staircase when something made him pause and look up towards the second floor. 

Baxter wasn’t likely to have wanted to leave the ground floor, with its greater number of exits. He’d had his men search the upper levels anyway, and they’d turned up nothing.

Some urge was telling him he needed to look for himself, and Levi didn’t bother resisting it. 

He took the stairs two at a time, and felt his instincts yelling at him by the time he reached the landing. Softening his footsteps, he crossed straight for Erwin’s study, and carefully stood out of the doorway as he pushed open the door.

When nothing came at him, he slid inside, and saw Baxter immediately. He was standing directly in front of Erwin’s desk, and he held Eren in front of him like a shield, with the point of a long, jagged knife at his throat.

“For fuck’s sake, Eren.”

“Sorry.” Eren tried to grin, though the hand tightly gripping a fistful of his hair was making his eyes water.

“Oh, don’t blame him. He was leaving, just as I’m sure you told him to, but he happened to overhear my associate giving me some… _ sensitive _ information so I had to detain him.” Lord Baxter tightened his grip on Eren’s hair as he smiled gently up at Levi. “This friend of yours has quite a temper, doesn’t he? Especially when it concerns your dear daughter.”

Levi’s blood instantly turned to ice. He’d wondered why Baxter had been so willing to linger at the card table, when he’d had to know the longer he stayed the more danger of capture he was in. So he’d been distracting Levi, when Levi and Erwin had thought they’d been distracting him. “What have you done to Mikasa?” he demanded.

“Oh, don’t worry. My men ran afoul of those  _ excellent _ bodyguards of hers.” He paused. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me where you found them? No? In any case, Lord Jaeger reacted much as you did just now, only with a little more blood in his eye. What a  _ pair _ you two must make.”

His voice became almost mournful as he continued, “I do wish you and I weren’t on opposite sides. I’d love the chance to see the two of you interact more. You’re both so very  _ fascinating _ .” 

Levi heard the noise level on the other side of the door behind him suddenly increase, and felt a wash of relief even as he raised his voice slightly to keep Baxter from hearing it too. He took a step forward. “You’re the one who keeps sending men to try and kill me.”

“Well, yes, but it’s so terribly rude of you to pry into my business. I had to do something about it.”

The noise seemed to be getting closer, and Baxter’s hand tightened on the knife in his hand as he tilted his head, listening. A trace of anger appeared on his face for an instant, and then disappeared as his usual friendly mask slipped back into place. He sighed. “I should have noticed the Duke was nowhere to be seen. So he was gathering reinforcements?”

Levi eased another step closer. “Your men will have been overpowered by now. You’d have better chances of getting away if you let him go.”

As Baxter laughed, Levi’s eyes met Eren’s. For the first time, he noticed Eren had dropped the hand he’d been using to try and hold Lord Baxter’s knife away from his throat, and while Levi had been distracting him he’d reached into his pocket, pulled out his little pocket knife.

Levi sucked in a breath. He nodded very, very slightly, and braced to leap. The instant Eren jabbed the knife back into Baxter’s stomach, Levi attacked.

As Baxter jerked in pain and shock, Levi grabbed the wrist of his knife hand, twisting until the knife clattered to the floor.

Eren had let himself go limp, leaving strands of his hair in Baxter’s grip as he pulled free, before scrambling away to stand beside Levi.

Baxter’s now empty hands went to the spreading patch of red surrounding the knife in his stomach. His eyes were wild, the polite mask he wore finally shattered as he bared his teeth at the two of them in fury. “You damn bastards. You fucking _ , fucking _ assholes. You’re so dead. I’m going to  _ hurt _ you for this. By the time I’m fucking done with you, you’re going to  _ wish _ you were-”

Levi stepped forward, pulled his arm back, and punched him in the face.

He watched in satisfaction as Baxter dropped to the floor, then turned back to see Eren bracing himself on the back of a sofa as he stared down at the man. “That’s two you’ve got with that knife.”

“Only one on purpose. And I didn’t kill this one.” He paused, and then added a little uncertainly, “Did I?”

“Probably not.” Levi crouched down beside Baxter, feeling for his pulse, and nodding in satisfaction at its strength. “I’d rather he lives on, very uncomfortably, so we’ll get a good doctor for him.” He looked up at Eren. “But you need to leave.”

That set Eren’s back up a little. “I was useful, wasn’t I?”

“You were a hostage. You had a knife at your throat.” The memory of that, now that the fear was past, started up Levi’s own temper. “You were supposed to go home.”

“I was trying. But then I heard him talking about keeping you busy while he sent assassins after Mikasa.”

“And your first response was to go after him, alone?”

“No, but his men spotted me, and I-”

He broke off when the door to the study opened, and saw Erwin standing in the doorway. 

Erwin took in the scene, his eyes lingering on the man lying on the floor before lifting to meet Levi’s. “Well. It looks like everything is under control here.” He glanced at Eren, and then stepped in, closing the door behind him. “Levi, if you don’t want Eren’s name recorded as part of this he needs to leave now before the police arrive.”

Levi looked at Eren and saw his anger evaporate as he suddenly understood why Levi had told him to go. 

He nodded, “I understand. I’ll go now.” 

  
  


* * *

**A Gentleman Proposes**

Unfortunately, Eren woke at 6:30 AM, with plenty of time to make it to the General’s house.

Dutifully, he got up, washed, dressed in the best clothes he had left, and went down to the kitchen to prepare tea. There was food in the cold room so his mother must have sold her lace, but he didn’t have the heart to eat any of it.

He sat on the table in the silent and dark dining room and thought of the money he’d had to leave on the card table the night before.

Baxter was in custody now, so he probably wouldn’t have had his throat cut if he’d taken it, but he definitely hadn’t known that at the time. And honestly, with his luck, if he’d tried to leave the room with the money he just knew the other players would have delayed him enough that he wouldn’t have been walking around that particular corner while Baxter was talking to his men, and if the whole ‘holding him hostage’ thing hadn’t happened, who knew if he’d have been captured. 

Eren decided he was going to stick with that view of the whole situation, just so he didn’t feel like kicking himself any harder than he already did.

As he stared down into the calm, dark, surface of his tea he wondered if the universe was trying to tell him his only option was to marry the General’s daughter.

The idea had become almost unbearable.

Ever since he’d met Levi again. 

At first, he’d just thought maybe they could go back to the way they’d been at school. Back to being good friends. 

But he’d had other good friends since then, and what he felt for them, important and meaningful as it was, wasn’t anything like what he’d felt for Levi. 

How he still felt for him now.

He had to stop thinking about it. There was no  _ point _ in thinking about it. He had to go propose to his future wife. 

He downed the last of his tea just as a loud knocking came from the front door of the house. Hurrying to the foyer, he saw Armin crossing to the door, Karla just coming down the stairs behind him. 

“It better not be the collectors again.” But Eren couldn’t imagine who else it could be at this hour of the morning. 

With his mouth set into a firm line, Armin opened the door just enough to look outside.

And then stared in shock as a small figure pushed through and darted into the room. She quickly looked around, then broke into a smile when she saw Eren.

Hurrying back to the door, she called out through the narrow opening Armin still hadn’t shut. “Papa! He’s still here, he hasn’t gone yet.”

She glanced up at Armin, and spoke with perfect politeness, “Excuse me.” 

And then, while Armin watched, still too taken aback to speak, pulled the door from his grip and opened it wide. 

A moment later, Levi stepped across the threshold. 

When he said nothing, Mikasa huffed out a breath and then turned to face Armin. 

She curtsied neatly. “Hello. I’m Mikasa Ackerman. This is my father, Levi Ackerman.” She shot a look up at her father and whispered loudly, “It’s your turn now, Papa.”

But it was Karla who spoke, as she came down the last of the stairs at the other end of the foyer. “Hello, Lady Mikasa. Lord Ackerman. I’m so glad you decided to visit.” 

From the startled look on Mikasa’s face as she whirled around, she hadn’t noticed Karla on the stairs. Her eyes went very wide, and her voice lost most of its confidence, “Are… are you Eren’s mother?”

“I am.” Karla smiled at the little girl. “It’s so nice to meet you.” She shot a glance at Eren, and then held out her hand to Mikasa. “Would you like to come have a talk with me upstairs? We’ll leave the boys to deal with things on their own.” 

Hesitantly, Mikasa put her hand in Karla’s, and then followed her up the stairs without a backwards glance at her own father.

Armin didn’t even hesitate, or bother giving any excuse. He simply gave Eren a very pointed look, before turning on his heel to follow Karla and Mikasa up the stairs. 

Eren shifted his weight. “Levi?”

Taking a deep breath, Levi finally spoke. “We need to talk.”

Eren stiffened at the slightly angry tone of Levi’s voice. “Yes, you said that the other night. I’m not stopping you. I have half an hour before I have to leave for the General’s.” 

With a sigh, Levi ran a hand over the back of his neck, and when he spoke again his voice had lost its irritated edge. “Listen. You can’t go.”

Eren’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?” 

Levi’s mouth opened, and then closed again. Then he looked up at the ceiling and this time when his mouth moved it looked like a silent curse. “Look,” he said finally. “Is there someplace we can talk that isn’t just a big empty room?”

Considering, Eren studied him for a moment, for the first time noticing the deep circles under Levi’s eyes, and the almost sheet-white paleness to his skin. He wondered if he’d managed to get any sleep since they’d seen each other last. How much sleep he’d had since Eren had run into him in a dark alley, and then woken in his bed. “Want some tea?”

“Fuck it. Yes, I’d kill for some.” 

“No need to go that far.” Eren turned to head into the kitchen, hearing Levi’s footsteps as he followed after him. 

It wasn’t any less awkward in the kitchen, but at least now Eren’s hands were occupied. There weren’t any chairs, of course, but Levi leaned back against the door as Eren stood at the stove putting the water on to boil. 

“Thank you for your help last night, we might not have gotten Baxter without you. He was planning on disappearing into the country as soon as he left yesterday, at least until his assassins managed to get rid of me.”

Eren blinked, and then stared at Levi. “It really was that close? If I hadn’t run into him in that hallway, he would have gotten away?” 

Lips twisting, Levi nodded. “Erwin said you might not realize how grateful I… we were. Without you distracting him, he’d have escaped.”

“I didn’t realize, no. But I hoped. It made me feel less of an idiot.”

“It  _ was _ a stupid-ass risk, though. What in the world made you pick last night to come to Erwin’s in the first place?”

Eren’s hands froze, and stared at them for a long moment, before deciding he’d have to have a long conversation with Mikasa later. “Lucky chance, I guess.” 

Levi frowned. “What-” 

“What did you want to talk to me about, Levi? You only have about twenty minutes before I have to go.”

“Don’t go,” Levi said. 

Suddenly frustrated, Eren slammed the box of tea he’d just picked up back down onto the long shelf along the wall, and turned back to face Levi. “You said that already. But it’s not like I have a choice.” He waved his arm wildly, showing off the bare kitchen. “Look around, there’s nothing left. It’s starvation for my family, debtors prison for me. Marrying her is my only way out.” 

“I’ll give you money.”

Instantly, frustration turned to rage. Levi - Levi of  _ all _ people should know him better than to offer him something like that. “No. I will not take your pity money.”

Levi muttered a curse, and then pushed away from the door to stalk across the kitchen towards Eren. “It’s not  _ fucking _ pity.”

“Well, what else is it? Why should I accept your money?” Eren held his ground as Levi marched up to him, refusing to back away. 

Levi reached out, grabbed Eren by his shirtfront, and yanked him down into a long, thorough kiss.

When he pulled back, they were both breathing deeply. He glared up into Eren’s eyes. “It’s not fucking pity,” he repeated.

Mouth agape in shock, Eren stared down at him.

When he said nothing, Levi cursed again. He shoved Eren back against the wall, leaned up on the balls of his feet to fit their bodies tightly together, then kissed him even more thoroughly.

“Do you understand now?”

“Not really.” But Eren licked his lips, tasting Levi as he stared down at him. “You want me to be your…what, your mistress?”

Almost growling, Levi released Eren, strode away, then strode back. He jabbed a finger into Eren’s chest. “I don’t want a damn mistress. Yes, I want to have sex with you, but I’m not fucking paying you to be my lover.” 

The fury on his face seemed to grow with every word as he glared up at Eren. “I want  _ everything _ . I want to sleep, to wake up in the same bed as you. I want breakfast with you. I want to talk about our days by the fire when it gets cold. I want you to raise my daughter with me. I want to know that we’re probably going to argue about stupid shit all the damn time, but it’ll never mess us up too far to fix. 

“I want now, today, and I want tomorrow. I want someday, when we’re old and tired. I want all of it. But none of that is why I want to help the man I love any way I can. Since I have money, then you have money too. That’s how it works.”

The finger he’d poked into Eren’s chest felt as if it was about to drill through his skin as he stepped in even closer, until he had to tilt his head back to glare into Eren’s eyes. “If we had more time I wouldn’t have dumped this all on you at once, but no matter what happens to put it off you keep on making more damn appointments to propose to  _ someone else _ .”

Eren studied Levi’s furious expression. His head was swimming oddly, and he knew he’d probably have to replay the last few minutes a couple of times over in his head to take it all in, but there were a few key bits that had stuck. 

Gently, he pushed away the hand still attempting to bore through his chest. “You love me?”

Levi gave him a disgusted look. “Of course I fucking do.”

“You want me to live with you - to raise Mikasa with you?” 

“You seem to like her, and she definitely likes you. Yes, I want you to raise her with me. I want the life I pictured having with you when we were teenagers and I first realized I was in love with you.”

Eren’s eyes went wide in shock. “You loved me back then?”

“Yes. Didn’t you love me too?”

Eren hesitated, drew in a breath, and let it out again. He nodded. “But you stopped speaking to me.”

“I was married. My family gave me no choice but to marry her.” Levi paused, then rephrased his words. “I felt that they gave me no choice. And after that, I knew seeing you would be too much for me. Especially once you married someone else and lived happily ever after.”

“But I’m not married. And you’re not married now. I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore – why didn’t you look for me when you were free?”

“Because I damn well knew – assumed – that you were off living your happy-as-fuck life with your pretty wife. And I didn’t want to know it for sure. But then suddenly there you were, drunk, and single. Or, mostly single.”

Eren nodded. “I sort of realized I’d been in love with you last night. But I was still going to go propose. I have very large debts, and I needed to protect my family.”

“I’ll pay off the damn debts; I have more than enough money and dealing with things like that is what partners do. Your mother and Arlert can move in with us, if they don’t want to stay here.” Levi paused, thinking. “Actually, your mother had better come live with us. I don’t think Mikasa will come home with me otherwise. And I’m pretty sure Arlert is going to have his own lab very soon if Erwin has anything to do with it.”

Eren angled his head, studying Levi. “It sounds like you have it all figured out already.”

“Yeah, well.” Suddenly a little uncertain, Levi shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged as he eased back and away from Eren. “None of it is set in stone. It’s an idea. You just can’t go propose this morning, that’s all.” 

“I get it.” Eren nodded, and this time he was the one to step into Levi until they were all but pressed together. “I think most of it works for me, but I don’t think I want you to just give me the money for the debts.”

Levi hesitated. “How else will you get enough to pay them off?”

“I have a plan.” Eren rested his arms on Levi’s shoulders, linking them behind his neck as he grinned down at him. “You can pay me in advance for all the sex we’re going to have.”

Levi blinked, thought about it, and then lifted one eyebrow. “You mentioned your debts are considerable.”

Eren shrugged. “So we’ll have a lot of sex.”

With a rusty laugh, Levi leaned up for another kiss. “Okay; I guess I can work with that.” 


End file.
